DENVER, CO. - NOVEMBER 7: Denver coach Brian Shaw congratulated Randy Foye after the win. The Denver Nuggets defeated the Atlanta Hawks 109-107 at the Pepsi Center Thursday night, November 7, 2013 for the first win of the season. Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - NOVEMBER 5: Randy Foye #4 of the Denver Nuggets puts up a jump shot against Tim Duncan #21 of the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter of an NBA game at the Pepsi Center on November 5, 2013, in Denver, Colorado. The Nuggets fell to the Spurs 102-94 and are now 0-3.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has suggested that the cure to a slow shooting start by guard Randy Foye is a quicker release.

So, Randy, do you need a quicker release?

“Do I?” he said with a smirk. “No. I’ve been doing this for eight years, man. It definitely ain’t about my release. It ain’t that. What did I hit last game? Two?”

You went 2-for-5.

“Two-for-5?” Foye said. “You’ll take that, or not?”

Yeah. I’ll take that.

“It’s 10 games in, man,” Foye said.

Shooters are supposed to just let it fly?

“Yep,” Foye said, before turning more serious. “It’s a completely new system and terminology. So I’m still trying to figure things out. Yeah, I want to come out and hit five every night, but that’s not the case. At the end of the day, I’m still working at it.”

And, it was pointed out, his accuracy from 3-point range isn’t poor, at 34.8 percent. It’s just not where he wants it.

“Yeah, but I don’t even know my percentage,” Foye said. “I don’t even look at that stuff.”

You don’t know what you’re shooting from the 3-point line?

“The only thing I feel is my free throws,” he said. “But I don’t even look at that, to tell you the truth. It’s just me. It’s just being mentally tough.”

Foye doesn’t need the headaches, so he avoids looking at the numbers.

His 3-point percentage is beside the point, he said. Wins are of the utmost importance, so whether his shooting percentage is high or low, the bottom line is his focus always remains the same: Did the Nuggets win?

That approach is fine with Shaw. But Foye was acquired last summer as a coveted shooter whose primary job was to help stretch the court by knocking down shots from beyond the arc.

Probably more alarming than his 3-point shooting — Foye hit nearly 40 percent last season with the Utah Jazz — is the fact he’s shooting just 36.8 percent from inside the arc. Put it all together and his overall field-goal percentage is 35.7 percent. Even more out of character has been his free-throw shooting. In his NBA career, he’s never shot worse than 81 percent from the line. Through 10 games, he’s at 65 percent.

Because so many Nuggets are struggling from the free-throw line, it has gone almost unnoticed. Individually, the 3-pointers are what Shaw is asked about.

“We’ve broken down a lot of film with him,” Shaw said. “And a lot of what we’re telling him is that his shooting percentage will rise if his shot selection is better. And he knows, as well as we’ve pointed out to him, his release is slow. So he allows players to get back and challenge his shot.”

No one, however, admits to being worried.

“It’s all about helping the team win,” Foye said. “I don’t care about nothing else. As long as we win, that’s all that I’m worried about.”

Spotlight on Derrick Rose: After a scorching preseason returning from an ACL injury that sidelined him for a year and a half, Rose has come back to earth at the beginning of this season with a little more of a, shall we say, human start with averages of 15.0 points on 34.4 percent shooting and 4.5 assists. “I think what you see is typical of a player that’s been off for a while due to injury,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “When you first come back … you have fresh legs, everything goes good for you and then it kind of tapers off. I think that’s where Derrick Rose is. Also, teams are trying to stop him; they are game-planning for him.”

NOTEBOOK

Nuggets: Guard Nate Robinson (wrist) practiced fully Wednesday and expects to be available to play against the team he played for last season. … This is the first of six games in which the Nuggets appear on TNT. … The Nuggets have one of the most productive benches in the NBA. Nuggets reserves rank second in points (45.5) and rebounds per game (20.1).

Bulls: Chicago comes to town without its starting shooting guard, Jimmy Butler, who is out for a couple of weeks because of a toe injury. “It poses a different problem (for us),” Shaw said. “He is one of the most defensive-minded guys. They had been posting him a lot against smaller guards, and we have smaller guards. But regardless of who it is, we have to play an almost perfect game if we want to win.”

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